


Midnight Silence

by heartunsettledsoul



Series: Forgotten Moments [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 07:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12294036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartunsettledsoul/pseuds/heartunsettledsoul
Summary: Moving suddenly, Jughead reached across the booth and laid his hand on the one she had wrapped around her milkshake glass. When Betty looked up, surprised, he seemed to have startled even himself with the action. But he didn’t remove his hand from hers. “I mean it, Betty. You did a good thing to protect your friend. And you have the added bonus of sticking it to your mom in the process. That’s not crazy, that’s strong.”-------Insert/post-scene for 1.04: Betty and Jughead meet at Pops to discuss the Grundy debacle and lament over the Twilight.





	Midnight Silence

By the time Betty returned home from the Grundy confrontation, it was late. So late that she had missed the entire final night at the Twilight Drive-in. She was beyond exhausted but her brain was still running at full speed from the adrenaline that had come from standing up to Alice — in front of other people, no less. 

No words had been exchanged between mother and daughter after exiting the school building, both of them raging internally at the situation. Betty was still furious that Alice had read through her diary, but she couldn’t help but be grateful that something good had come out of the betrayal of what little trust had been between them: Grundy was leaving. She didn’t quite have the words for how she felt because she knew Archie was hurting, but at least he was hurting while out from under whatever sexual cougar spell Grundy had put on him.  A glance out her bedroom window told her that Archie was home now as well, but his blinds were drawn so she thought better of texting him.  _ Let him have time alone,  _ she thought to herself.  _ Maybe he’ll want to talk tomorrow.  _

She did finally dig her phone out of her coat pocket, which had been buzzing on and off for the last few hours. Betty hadn’t dared check in when she was with her mother, so she flopped back on her bed and scrolled through the messages she had missed. There we several from Kevin, two from Veronica, and none from Jughead. Not that Jughead’s lack of texting was out of the ordinary, but she assumed he might have at least reached out to ask why she hadn’t come to the drive in. He told her at school that day he went with her suggestion of Rebel Without a Cause and she'd been so excited to watch it with him. And now she had missed the whole thing. The misery she already felt at letting Archie down by betraying his secret (admittedly not through any direct fault of her own) doubled. Make that two friends she had let down.

The growing pit in her stomach told her she felt infinitely worse about disappointing Jughead. He would have never said it out loud, but Betty could tell he was counting on her tonight. They had always shared a love of classic movies and recently the two were connecting on even more, their friendship burgeoning in a way that neither of them ever had with Archie. 

Betty sighed heavily, reading through what she had missed. She had quite the run down from Kevin.

**Kevin:** Where are you???   
**Kevin:** Jughead looks even more angsty than usual tonight. Are you gonna show up??  
**Kevin:** Fine I’ll split my popcorn with Veronica but she doesn’t like butter and this is a travesty  
**Kevin:** OMG she just told off a bunch of Serpents if I die tell my dad it’s all her fault 

There was a large time jump between that message and Kevin’s last texts of the night

**Kevin:** !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
**Kevin:** CALL ME WHENEVER YOU GET OUT OF THE BLACK HOLE YOU’RE CLEARLY STUCK IN I JUST HARDCORE MADE OUT WITH SOMEONE AND NEED TO GUSH 

_ Trust Kevin to finally find someone at the drive in of all places _ , Betty laughed to herself. It was nearly midnight, so she would just talk to him at school tomorrow. 

Veronica’s texts were more subdued, but clearly had the same excitability. 

**Veronica:** Girl, where are you?!  
**Veronica:** This is so small town-y and those crazy bikers are here, I feel like I’m in West SIde Story!!! 

Betty stared at a blank message screen for several moments, trying to figure out what to send Jughead. He didn’t strike her as the type to have much patience for lengthy apology texts, but that was definitely what she felt like doing. She strived for simplicity instead, emulating the brief messages he’d sent in their previous, and limited, text exchanges. 

**Betty:** I feel like crap, I’m so sorry I missed tonight.  
**Betty:** Things exploded with Grundy and I would have much rather watched Rebel Without a Cause 

The typing bubble popped up almost immediately after the messages went through. God knows why he was also up this late, but then again, Jughead did seem to be a night owl. 

**Jughead:** Sorry you missed it too, but shit happens. What’s going on with Grundy?   
**Betty:** Long story short, my mom found my diary and basically ran her out of town   
**Jughead:** Ok I gotta hear the long story now  
**Jughead:** Any chance you can get out to Pops? 

Betty paused. It was very late and Alice Cooper would most definitely murder her if she was caught sneaking out or in. But after today, Betty almost didn’t care about the consequences. She had stood up to her mother and, for better or worse, she felt much stronger for it. And she was pretty sure the alarm sensor on the basement door was still broken, so she might actually have a chance. If nothing else, Hal had been fixing roof tiles the previous weekend and left the ladder leaning up against the house. Betty peered out her window; she could probably reach the top rung from here. 

**Betty:** Apology milkshake is on me. Be there in 10. 

She exchanged her flats for sneakers and tugged her coat back on. A quick appraisal in the mirror showed her tired eyes and ponytail askew, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. Jughead wouldn’t care either way if she was in full Cooper Attire or not. Her phone buzzed again as she was slowly opening her window, trying not to make a sound. 

**Jughead:** :) 

Betty faltered. Since when did Jughead Jones smile, let alone use smiley faces in text? A cursory run-through their last few interactions reminded her that now Jughead Jones tended to smile at _her._ A warm, pleasant sensation went through her and she blushed despite herself. Jughead had a really nice smile and she felt a secret kind of pride knowing that she was one of the few who got to experience it. Before she had any more of a chance to doubt herself, Betty swiftly ducked through the window and reached her foot out for the ladder, holding tight to the frame. When she successfully connected both feet to the rung, she was down in a flash and jogging down the street in the direction of Pops.

It’s not that she felt unsafe, exactly, but there was still technically a murderer on the loose, so she figured the less time she spent alone on the street at midnight, the better. Betty kept up her light jog until she saw the neon Pop Tate’s sign in the distance and could make out a solitary dark-haired figure through one of the windows.  Jughead looked up as she was crossing the parking lot and smiled at her. Suddenly Betty was very glad that her face was already flushed from the jog. She climbed the steps to the door trying to convince herself to calm down. There was no reason Jughead smiling at her should be making her blush uncontrollably.  _ No reason at all, _ she told herself sternly, not quite believing it. 

The bell above the door dinged as she walked in and Pop looked up from across the counter. “Miss Betty! Awfully late for you to be out, isn’t it?” 

“If my mom asks, I was never here,” Betty laughed in response. “Can you make two chocolate shakes for me and Jug?” Pop nodded and Betty made her way over to the booth where Jughead was sitting. Kevin had been right, he did look more morose than usual. 

“Jug, I’m so–” she started as she slid into the seat across from him. He waved a hand to cut her off.

“Betts, clearly there were bigger fish to fry tonight. Namely one called Grundy,” he grinned at her. “Now please distract me from my teenage, nostalgia-fueled angst by regaling me with how Alice Cooper ran our resident cougar out of town.” 

Betty chuckled in spite of still feeling miserably sorry. “Wait for your milkshake because I’m sparing no detail and this is definitely a story that requires chocolate to digest.” 

“Fair enough.” They sat in companionable silence while the mixer whirred and when Pop brought their shakes over, Betty took a long sip before starting. She went over the last few days, from breaking into Grundy’s car with Veronica to the first effort in talking to Archie all the way up to tonight’s events. Jughead absorbed everything in stride, only interrupting once with a strangled “ _ what?!”  _ when Betty mentioned hiding Grundy’s gun in her dresser. 

They were both finished with their milkshakes by the time Betty was done explaining the bargain Grundy struck with Fred and Alice. “And so here we are,” she sighed, swirling her straw around the empty frosted glass. 

Jughead let out a low whistle. “Here we certainly are. I can’t believe your mom backed down about publishing everything.” 

“I didn’t exactly give her a choice,” Betty said lightly. “We can’t have the whole town thinking all three of the Cooper women are insane.” Jughead looked at her sharply. 

“Betty, you are not crazy.” 

She swallowed thickly, breaking their eye contact for fear of bursting into tears. He sounded so sincere and caring, and Betty couldn’t remember the last time somebody said something to her like that and actually meant it. “I guess.”

Moving suddenly, Jughead reached across the booth and laid his hand on the one she had wrapped around her milkshake glass. When Betty looked up, surprised, he seemed to have startled even himself with the action. But he didn’t remove his hand from hers. “I mean it, Betty. You did a good thing to protect your friend. And you have the added bonus of sticking it to your mom in the process. That’s not crazy, that’s strong.” 

Betty held his gaze and inhaled shakily. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

“Of course.” 

They stayed that way for another beat, until dishes clattered behind the counter and they both jumped. Jughead cleared his throat, withdrawing his hand, but Betty could still feel the stinging warmth of where it had been. 

Desperate for a change of subject, but still staring at the spot where his hand had been, Betty asked, “How was everything at the Twilight tonight? Are you holding up?” 

Jughead opened his mouth to respond, and for a moment, it looked like he was about to say something very serious. Eventually he shook his head ever so slightly, seeming to think better of it. “I’ll manage,” he said with a wry smile. “The movie selection was a hit, though, so I have you to thank for that.” 

Betty smiled. “I’m still so sad I missed it. We’ll have to watch Rebel Without a Cause again together soon. Maybe we can do our own makeshift drive-in or something!” The excitement in her eyes sparkled and Jughead couldn’t help but feel its infectiousness, despite his heavy heart at losing his job, his safe space, and his temporary home all in one night. Leave it to Betty Cooper to pull him out of an angsty depression with just one idea and a smile. That girl had some magic in her. 

“I’d really like that, Betts.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't get this little ficlet out of my head because I'm doing a rewatch prior to s2 premiering and I'm very sad Betty and Jughead didn't get to discuss the events of ep4 together. 
> 
> Let me know what you think, I thrive on validation :) And also posting these after being off my writing game for so long is terrifying, so positive reinforcement goes a long way. find me on tumblr @heartunsettledsoul


End file.
